Dashboard Navigator FAQs

The California School Dashboard Navigator (Navigator) is an interactive mapping tool for visualizing school and student group performance on a map. The map displays schools by their color-coded performance level for each of the state indicators and student groups. Users can target their searches by specific geographic areas and further refine their searches using a set of interactive charts.

The California Dashboard Navigator offers a new way of visualizing school performance data. The ability to visualize school and student group performance from the birds-eye view of a map can reveal data patterns that may be difficult to see in data tables and offers users the ability to easily compare and contrast results within smaller geographic areas.

The California School Dashboard Navigator uses the same source data files as the 2018 California School Dashboard. Data from 2017–18 was used to determine current year performance (Status), and 2016–17 data was used to determine Change.

The California Department of Education has prepared a Navigator How-To Guide to provide guidance on how to use the Navigator site. If further assistance is needed, please contact the Data Visualization and Reporting Office by email at DVRO@cde.ca.gov.

The web browser cannot display data for California’s approximately 10,000 schools simultaneously without performance slowing down. In order to display fewer schools and improve performance and speed, use one of the school filters on the left panel or zoom in further. While the Navigator functions on all web browsers, we have found increased functionality with Google Chrome.

All students and any student group must have at least 30 students in both the current and prior year to receive a performance color. Selections that do not meet this threshold receive a ‘No Color’ value.

On the left panel, users must select ‘None’ from the drop-down lists for the both the County and School District filters and the ‘All’ radio button in order to clear filters. For the charts, users must click somewhere on the chart but outside of the pie or bar to clear filters. A single button to clear all filters is planned for a future release.

The CDE has mapped the 2018 California School Dashboard data first and expects to make the 2017 results available in the near future. After the 2019 California School Dashboard results are published in December 2019, the CDE expects to make the 2019 results available in the Navigator.